02-26-2021
BY JACK BULLOCK
MURPHYSBORO - For a relatively young basketball team, the Massac County Patriots continue to handle varsity ball games like veterans would.

Playing a group of sophomores and freshmen with a couple of key seniors, head coach Joe Hosman has blended together a crew that has won it's first seven contests of the 2020-21 season.

The Patriots showed grace under pressure on Friday night on the road at conference rival Murphysboro.

After surrendering an 11 point second half lead by allowing a 9-0 run to begin the fourth quarter, Massac County closed the game on their own 9-0 scoring run in a 50-41 victory.

Coach Hosman's squad is now 7-0 overall and 5-0 in the Ohio Division of the SIRR conference after the tough road win.

Murphysboro now sits at 2-5 in the league and overall.

In typical Ohio Division fashion, the two teams defensively forced the issue and forced mistakes.

But the key plays on both ends of the floor turned out the best for the Patriots on this night as Coach Hosman's team inched closer to the league championship.

One of the young players for Massac County is 6-foot freshman guard and coaches' son Isaac Hosman, who led the team with 14 points.

The Patriots got 10 points each from senior forward J.J. Sweatt and sophomore forward Brady Cissell as they topped Murphysboro for the second time this season.

Coach Daryl Murphy got a game-best 19 points from senior guard Cornelius Davis in defeat.

However Massac County held the rest of the Red Devils in check for the most part with no other player getting double-figures in scoring.

Guards senior JaQuan Jackson and junior Calvon Clemons were held to eight and five points respectively in the loss.

While each team committed 16 turnovers, it came down to which team would get the final push for the win.

Massac County got the key defensive stops at the end and finally made enough free throws late to seal the win.

After missing their first two attempts in the fourth quarter, the Patriots knocked down 5-of-6 from the stripe, 10-of-18 in the game, to take a step closer to their second consecutive division crown.

After sharing the league honors last winter (with Benton and Murphysboro) Coach Hosman's club can win the title outright with five more wins.

While most of the statistics of the game mirrored each other, the one line in the ledger that proved to be a difference was the 3-point arc.

The Patriots ended up 4-of-9 from beyond 19'9” as opposed to just 2-of-13 by Murphysboro.

Overall Massac County finished 18-of-37 (48.6 percent) while Red Devils closed with 17-of-39 (43.5 percent).

Another key number was 0-of-4, as Coach Murphy's team missed all four of its 3-point shots in the fourth quarter.

While these two teams have an abundance of offensive talent, it was the defenses that proved key on this night, especially rebounding.

Combined the two teams had just six total offensive rebounds (three each) while Massac held a slight 21-20 edge overall.

After coughing up the late lead, allowing the Red Devils to tie the score at 41-41 with 3:07 left, Massac held Murphysboro scoreless.

During the final quarter while trying to make a move to pick up the win, the Red Devils hit just 1-of-6 foul shots (5-of-12 for the game) which helped stop their victory march.

“You know Coach Murphy's kids are never going to quit and we have had a good run against them lately but you know that could change any day,” said Coach Hosman. “We got up nine or ten but typical of Coach Murphy's team they made a run at us. They tied the ball game up but we made some plays. We have a group of kids who are not afraid of the moment. I was really proud to come in here and get'em. We had two sophomores and two freshman on the floor a lot tonight and as young as we are and the two seniors. We are very blessed to be where we are right now.”

Neither team set the world a blaze in the early going, which was a tribute to the good defensive play.

Murphysboro held their only leads early as they got the first four points on a lay in and 2-of-3 free throws by Davis on two separate trips.

Then the Patriots closed the rest of the period with a 10-4 move.

Cissell, Sweatt, senior forward Kyler McIntosh and freshman guard Will Harmon put up points in the run to make it 10-8 at the end of the first quarter.

Harmon nailed down a 3-pointer in the second quarter on a nice assist from Hosman before McIntosh and Hosman added two more scores.

Sweatt added to the numbers by scoring on a nice reverse lay in on a baseline drive.

Leading 21-15, the Patriots held the ball for nearly a minute before Cissell was fouled with :02.2 left.

He cashed in 1-of-2 from the foul line as Massac led by seven at the half.

A 9-2 run in the third quarter gave the Patriots their first and only double-digit advantage.

Hosman scored five of his points in the run, while Sweatt added four as the lead ballooned to is largest at 36-25.

After a 7-0 run by the Red Devils with Jackson (two) and Davis (five) scoring, Massac needed a timeout.

But the Patriots responded to lead 41-32 at the end of the third with a second 3-pointer in the quarter from Hosman.

Cissell closed the third with another inside score as the two teams headed to the fourth quarter with Massac up nine.

Nine turned out to be the key number in the final eight minutes.

The Red Devils appeared ready for a come-from-behind win.

Consecutive scores from Clemons, sophomore Marquavion Cleaves, Clemons again on a free throw and an eventual score in the paint by reserve senior Kenneth Hale, evened the game at 41-each.

Isaac Hosman had a hand in the next three scores for the Patriots.

He scored on a drive in the lane and added two free throws that were wrapped around a great assist to Cissell.

Sophomore guard Brody Smallman closed the scoring with two free throws with just :13.2 remaining.

A subsequent Murphysboro turnover ended the game as Massac County ran out the clock in the important Ohio Division win.

The Patriots will play Eldorado on Saturday while Murphysboro will play at rival Carbondale, also on Saturday.

“We tried to change the defense up on them quite a bit. Coach Murphy's teams run the best offensive sets in southern Illinois and I think all of them (defenses) were effective at times,” added Coach Hosman. “Benton had us down, Murphysboro had us down at our place, Harrisburg had us down. This conference every game you have to be ready to play. It's a great conference with good coaches.”

Massac County (50) – McIntosh 2 0 1-2 5, Smallman 0 1 3-4 6, Hosman 3 2 2-3 14, Sweatt 4 0 2-3 10, Cissell
4 0 2-3 10, Harmon 1 1 0-0 5. 2FG-14, 3FG-4, FT-10-18, PF-8.
Murphysboro (41) – Abell 0 0 0-0 0, Cleaves 4 0 0-2 8, Jackson 3 0 1-2 7, Davis 5 2 3-4 19, Kuba 0 0 0-0 0, Feggins 0 0 0-0 0, Abernathy 0 0 0-0 0, Clemons 2 0 1-4 5, Hale 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-15, 3FG-2, FT-5-12, PF-18.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.